Systems and methods for providing news alerts

ABSTRACT

A system provides news alerts. For example, the system may receive topics of interest to users and periodically obtain news articles that originate from multiple sources of news articles and relate to the topics of interest to the users. The system may generate news alerts that include information associated with one or more of the news articles and provide the news alerts to the users.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/569,587, filed Sep. 29, 2009 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,700,610), which isa continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/671,516, filedSep. 29, 2003, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to information retrieval systemsand, more particularly, to systems and methods for providing alertsregarding relevant news articles.

Description of Related Art

To keep abreast of recent events, people read newspapers, watch TV, andvisit web sites. These methods, however, require users to go looking fornews and not the other way around. Recently, a number of services haveoffered users the ability to have news articles sent to them. Forexample, a news provider, such as CNN, currently allows users to benotified about breaking news headlines by sending them a message viae-mail or by telephone.

Services like these remain relatively unsophisticated. One majorchallenge is making sure that breaking news is sent only to the peoplewho really care about the topic of the breaking news. To address thisissue, some services offer different channels, such as a breaking newschannel, a sports channel, a finance channel, and channels relating toother pre-selected topics.

These types of services typically are not adequate enough, however, toserve the users' needs. For example, some people prefer to describe intheir own words what articles they are interested in seeing. This is notcurrently possible because past systems have been limited to providinggeneral breaking news alerts or alerts related merely to a predefinedset of broad topics. Also, some people would only like to know about themost relevant articles matching their interests. Furthermore, somepeople would like to be made aware of all of the coverage about a topicnot just news articles from one news source (or a small number of newssources). In addition, some people would like to be made aware ofrelevant articles when it is convenient for them, not when it isconvenient for the service providing the articles.

Therefore, there exists a need for a mechanism that provides users withrecent news articles that are relevant to the interests of the users andthat are derived from a large number of news sources and permits usersto control the time of when they are notified of the news articles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods, consistent with the principles of the invention,address this and other needs by providing a news alert service thatgathers news articles from a large number of sources and presents newsarticles that are relevant to the interests of its users at times (e.g.,when they are notified, the frequency at which they are notified, etc.)that may be specified by the users.

In accordance with one aspect consistent with the principles of theinvention, a method for providing news alerts is provided. The methodmay include receiving registration information that identifies a topicof interest to a user and periodically searching news articles frommultiple sources of news articles to identify news articles relating tothe topic of interest to the user. The method may also includegenerating a news alert that includes information associated with one ormore of the identified news articles and providing the news alert to theuser.

According to another aspect, a system includes a memory and a processorconnected to the memory. The memory is configured to store contactinformation and one or more keywords associated with multiple users. Theprocessor is configured to periodically obtain news articles originatingfrom multiple sources of news articles and relating to the one or morekeywords, generate news alerts that include information associated withone or more of the news articles, and present the news alerts to theusers based at least in part on the contact information.

According to yet another aspect, a method for providing news alerts isprovided. The method may include receiving one or more persistent searchterms from a user and periodically identifying current news articlesfrom a corpus of news articles that originated from multiple sources.The current news articles may relate to the one or more persistentsearch terms. The method may also include sending information associatedwith the current news articles to the user.

According to a further aspect, a method for notifying users of currentnews articles of interest to the users is provided. The method mayinclude identifying topics of interest to the users and receivinginformation regarding a frequency at which the users desire to benotified of current news articles. The method may also includeidentifying current news articles relating to the topics of interest tothe users and sending information associated with the identified currentnews articles to the users based at least in part on the frequencyinformation.

According to another aspect, a system includes a memory configured tostore instructions and a processor configured to execute theinstructions in the memory. The processor may receive a search string,identify current news articles relating to the search string, generate anews alert based at least in part on the current news articles, andtransmit the news alert.

According to yet another aspect, a data structure embodied on acomputer-readable medium usable by one or more processors to generatenews alerts for users is provided. The data structure may include acontact field that stores contact information for the users, a keywordsfield that stores one or more keywords relating to topics of interest tothe users, and a frequency field that stores information regarding afrequency at which the users desire to receive the news alerts. The oneor more processors may use data from the contact field, the keywordsfield, and the frequency field to generate news alerts for the users.

According to a further aspect, a method for providing news alerts isprovided. The method may include receiving one or more keywords from auser and relevancy ranking news articles based, at least in part, on theone or more keywords. The method may also include generating a newsalert based, at least in part, on the ranked news articles and providingthe news alert to the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the inventionand, together with the description, explain the invention. In thedrawings,

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary network in which systems and methodsconsistent with the principles of the invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client and/or server of FIG. 1 in animplementation consistent with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary computer-readable medium that may beused by a server of FIG. 1 according to an implementation consistentwith the principles of the invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flowcharts of exemplary processing for providingnews alerts according to an implementation consistent with theprinciples of the invention;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram of a graphical user interface that may beused for registration according to an implementation consistent with theprinciples of the invention;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram of a graphical user interface that may beused for entering an advanced news search according to an implementationconsistent with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram of a registration notification that maybe used according to an implementation consistent with the principles ofthe invention; and

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram of a news alert that may be usedaccording to an implementation consistent with the principles of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to theaccompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawingsmay identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detaileddescription does not limit the invention.

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention mayprovide persistent news searching and alerting. For example, the systemsand methods may permit users to register keyword(s) relating to topicsof interest to the users. The systems and methods may periodically querya news corpus to obtain recent (or current) news articles that arerelevant to the users' keywords and present these articles to the users,if they were not already presented.

Exemplary Network Configuration

FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a network 100 in which systems andmethods consistent with the principles of the invention may beimplemented. Network 100 may include multiple clients 110 connected tomultiple servers 120-140 via a network 150. Network 150 may include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a telephonenetwork, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), anintranet, the Internet, a memory device, another type of network, or acombination of networks. Two clients 110 and three servers 120-140 havebeen illustrated as connected to network 150 for simplicity. Inpractice, there may be more or fewer clients and servers. Also, in someinstances, a client may perform the functions of a server and a servermay perform the functions of a client.

Clients 110 may include client entities. An entity may be defined as adevice, such as a wireless telephone, a personal computer, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a lap top, or another type of computation orcommunication device, a thread or process running on one of thesedevices, and/or an object executable by one of these device. Servers120-140 may include server entities that gather, process, search, and/ormaintain documents in a manner consistent with the principles of theinvention. Clients 110 and servers 120-140 may connect to network 150via wired, wireless, or optical connections.

In an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention,server 120 may optionally include a search engine 125 usable by clients110. Server 120 may also provide news alerts to clients 110 according toimplementations consistent with the principles of the invention. Forexample, users of clients 110 may register with server 120 to receivenews alerts that relate to keywords provided by the users. Server 120may use the keywords to identify recent (or current) news articles thatrelate to the keywords and notify the users of these news articles.

Server 130 may include a news server that gathers, processes, searches,and/or maintains news documents (hereinafter called “news articles”).The news articles may take different forms, such as audio, video,images, text, or a combination of audio, video, images, and/or text.Server 130 may crawl the information on all major (and possibly minor)news sites to amass a corpus of news articles from thousands of sources.Server 130 may rank these news articles using, for example, a techniquesimilar to the ones disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/662,931, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPROVING THE RANKING OFNEWS ARTICLES,” filed Sep. 16, 2003; U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/611,269, entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CLUSTERED AGGREGATION OFNEWS CONTENT,” filed Jun. 30, 2003; and U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/611,267, entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR RANKING DOCUMENTS,”filed Jun. 30, 2003, the contents of these applications are herebyincorporated herein by reference.

Server 140 may store or maintain documents, which may include some newsarticles. For example, server 140 may be one of the servers whoseinformation is crawled by server 130.

While servers 120-140 are shown as separate entities, it may be possiblefor one or more of servers 120-140 to perform one or more of thefunctions of another one or more of servers 120-140. For example, it maybe possible that two or more of servers 120-140 are implemented as asingle server. It may also be possible for one of servers 120-140 to beimplemented as multiple, possibly distributed, computing devices.

Exemplary Client/Server Architecture

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server entity (hereinaftercalled “client/server entity”), which may correspond to one or more ofclients 110 and servers 120-140, according to an implementationconsistent with the principles of the invention. The client/serverentity may include a bus 210, a processor 220, a main memory 230, a readonly memory (ROM) 240, a storage device 250, one or more input devices260, one or more output devices 270, and a communication interface 280.Bus 210 may include one or more conductors that permit communicationamong the components of the client/server entity.

Processor 220 may include any type of conventional processor ormicroprocessor that interprets and executes instructions. Main memory230 may include a random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamicstorage device that stores information and instructions for execution byprocessor 220. ROM 240 may include a conventional ROM device or anothertype of static storage device that stores static information andinstructions for use by processor 220. Storage device 250 may include amagnetic and/or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive.

Input device(s) 260 may include one or more conventional mechanisms thatpermit an operator to input information to the client/server entity,such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, voice recognition and/or biometricmechanisms, etc. Output device(s) 270 may include one or moreconventional mechanisms that output information to the operator,including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. Communication interface280 may include any transceiver-like mechanism that enables theclient/server entity to communicate with other devices and/or systems.For example, communication interface 280 may include mechanisms forcommunicating with another device or system via a network, such asnetwork 150.

As will be described in detail below, the client/server entity,consistent with the principles of the invention, performs certainsearching-related operations. The client/server entity may perform theseoperations in response to processor 220 executing software instructionscontained in a computer-readable medium, such as memory 230. Acomputer-readable medium may be defined as one or more physical orlogical memory devices and/or carrier waves.

The software instructions may be read into memory 230 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as data storage device 250, or fromanother device via communication interface 280. The softwareinstructions contained in memory 230 causes processor 220 to performprocesses that will be described later. Alternatively, hardwiredcircuitry may be used in place of or in combination with softwareinstructions to implement processes consistent with the principles ofthe invention. Thus, implementations consistent with the principles ofthe invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardwarecircuitry and software.

Exemplary Computer-Readable Medium

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary computer-readable medium 300 thatmay be associated with a server that provides news alerts, such asserver 120 in FIG. 1, according to an implementation consistent with theprinciples of the invention. The contents of computer-readable medium300 may physically reside in one or more memory devices accessible byserver 120. Computer-readable medium 300 may include a database ofentries corresponding to news alerts registered by users. Each of theentries may include an e-mail address field 310, keyword(s) field 320,and timing field 330.

E-mail address field 310 may store an e-mail address of a user. A usermay have multiple entries in the database corresponding to multipledifferent news alerts. Keyword(s) field 320 may store one or more wordsor a search string (as will be described in more detail below). Timingfield 330 may store an indication of when (e.g., time of arrival) or howoften (e.g., frequency) the user desires to be presented with newsalerts. In one implementation, the user might choose between “as ithappens” (news alerts are sent to the user when server 120 receivesthem) and “once a day” (news alerts are sent to the user once per day).In other implementations, the user might be given other timing options,such as twice a day or at certain time(s) of the day or day(s) of theweek. In yet other implementations, the user might be given combinationsof these timing options, such as it happens between certain times of theday.

Exemplary Processing

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flowcharts of exemplary processing for providingnews alerts according to an implementation consistent with theprinciples of the invention. Processing may begin with a userregistering for the news alert service using client 110 (act 410) (FIG.4A). For example, the user may use a browser to access a web pageassociated with server 120 to register for the news alert service.Server 120 may provide one or more graphical user interfaces to the userto facilitate the news alert registration.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram of a graphical user interface 500 thatmay be used for registration according to an implementation consistentwith the principles of the invention. Graphical user interface 500 mayinclude an option for the user to create a news alert. Graphical userinterface 500 may provide an area 510 for keywords, an area 520 fortiming (e.g., time of arrival or frequency) information, and an area 530for an e-mail address. In area 510, the user may enter one or morekeywords that relate to a topic of interest to the user. In area 520,the user may enter the timing for notifications (e.g., the times orfrequency at which the user desires to be notified of relevant newsarticles). For example, the user may specify that the user desires newsalerts as they happen or once a day. In area 530, the user may enter ane-mail address to which the news alerts may be sent.

Graphical user interface 500 may also permit the user to enter anadvanced search instead of entering one or more keywords. The advancedsearch may provide the user with the ability to provide additionalinformation to tailor the news articles that the user will receive. Inone implementation, the user enters the advanced search terms via area510. In another implementation, graphical user interface 500 may providea selectable advanced search button 540. Selection of advanced searchbutton 540 may cause presentation of an advanced search page.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram of a graphical user interface 600 thatmay be used for entering an advanced news search according to animplementation consistent with the principles of the invention.Graphical user interface 600 may provide an area 610 for providing oneor more keywords, an area 620 for identifying a source of news articles,an area 630 for identifying a location of news sources, an area 640 foridentifying where the one or more keywords are to be located within anews article, and an area 650 for specifying a date for news articles.

In area 610, a user may enter one or more words that should all appeartogether in a returned news article (i.e., a news article for which anews alert may be generated and sent to the user), a phrase that shouldappear exactly in a returned news article, one or more words at leastone of which should appear in a returned news article, and one or morewords that should not appear in a returned news article. In area 620, auser may enter one or more news sources (e.g., CNN, New York Times,Washington Post) from which all returned news articles should originate.It may also be possible for the user to specify the type of news mediathe user desires. For example, the user might specify that the userdesires news articles that include audio data (e.g., an audio clip),video data (e.g., a video clip), and/or image data (e.g., a picture). Inother words, the user may specify, for example, that the user desiresonly relevant news articles that include a picture.

In area 630, a user may enter one or more geographical locations (e.g.,a country or a U.S. state) from which all returned news articles shouldoriginate. In area 640, a user may identify where the specified one ormore keywords should be located in a returned news article. For example,the user may identify that the one or more keywords be located anywherein the news article, in the headline of the news article, in the body ofthe news article, in connection with image, video, and/or audio dataassociated with the news article, or in the uniform resource locator(URL) associated with the news article. In area 650, a user may select apublication date associated with returned news articles. For example,the user may specify that news articles published at any time, withinthe last hour, within the last day, in the past week, or in the pastmonth should be returned. Alternatively, the user may specify that newsarticles published within a date range should be returned.

Based on the information provided by the user via graphical userinterface 600, server 120 may generate a search string. Server 120 maycause the search string to automatically populate area 510 of graphicaluser interface 500. Alternatively, server 120 may provide the searchstring to the user. In this case, the user may enter the search stringin area 510.

Via graphical user interface 500 and/or graphical user interface 600,server 120 may receive a user e-mail address, one or more keywords(possibly in the form of a search string), and timing information (acts412-416) (FIG. 4A). Server 120 may optionally send a registrationnotification to the user to obtain verification of the news alertregistration from the user (act 418). For example, server 120 may sendan e-mail to the user that confirms that the news alert has beenregistered.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram of a registration notification 700 thatmay be transmitted to a user according to an implementation consistentwith the principles of the invention. Registration notification 700 mayinclude a confirmation 710 of the substance of the newly registered newsalert, including the one or more keywords of the news alert and thee-mail address to which the news alerts will be sent. Registrationnotification 700 may also include a link 720 for verifying the newsalert registration and a link 730 for canceling the news alertregistration.

To verify the news alert registration, the user may select link 720.Selection of link 720 may cause a message to be sent to server 120confirming registration of the news alert. Server 120 may thenoptionally present an initial set of relevant news articles to the user(act 420). For example, server 120 may perform a search of an existingnews corpus based at least in part on the keyword(s) received from theuser (act 422). In one implementation, server 120 may send thekeyword(s) to server 130 and request return of news articles relevant tothe keyword(s).

Server 130 may use the keyword(s) to search its news corpus, identifyrelevant results, and rank the results. Server 130 may rank the resultsbased on a number of factors, such as whether the results include thekeyword(s) (e.g., a result that includes all of the keyword(s) may beranked higher than a result that includes less than all of thekeyword(s), a result that includes the keyword(s) in a more prominentlocation (e.g., in a title) may be ranked higher than a result thatincludes the keyword(s) in a less prominent location (e.g., in fineprint), etc.), the source of the results (e.g., a result from a morereputable source may be ranked higher than a result from a lessreputable source), other factors, or a combination of factors. In oneimplementation, server 130 may rank the results using, for example, atechnique similar to the ones disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/662,931, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/611,269, and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/611,267. Server 130 may then return theranked results to server 120. In an alternative implementation, server120 may perform the searching of the news corpus and/or the ranking ofthe results itself.

In any event, server 120 may present some or all of the ranked resultsto the user as an initial set of news articles (act 424). In oneimplementation, server 120 may form a news descriptor for each of thenews articles in the initial set of news articles. A news descriptor mayinclude the headline of the news article, a link to the news article,and an excerpt from the news article. The news descriptor may alsoinclude one or more links to other stories on this topic. In anotherimplementation, the news descriptor may include other information, suchas the entire news article, audio, video, and/or image data associatedwith the news article, or a publication date of the news article. Theparticular information included in the news descriptor may be specifiedby the user during registration of the news alert. Server 120 may sendthe news descriptors as a news alert in an e-mail to the user.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram of a news alert 800 that may be usedaccording to an implementation consistent with the principles of theinvention. News alert 800 may include news descriptors 810, a link 820to cancel the news alert, and a link 830 to create another news alert.As described above, a news descriptor 810 may include the headline ofthe news article, a link to the news article, an excerpt from the newsarticle, and, possibly, a link to other stories on this topic. A usermay select either link 820 or link 830 to cancel the news alert orcreate another news alert, respectively.

After presenting the initial set of news articles, server 120 mayperiodically present the user with new results of recent (or current)news articles (act 430) (FIG. 4B). For example, server 120 mayperiodically search the news corpus for recent (or current) newsarticles relevant to the keyword(s) (act 432). The frequency at whichserver 120 may search the news corpus may be based at least in part onthe timing information specified by the user. For example, server 120may perform the search once a day, once an hour, or more or lessfrequently.

To search the news corpus, server 120 may send the keyword(s) to server130 and request return of news articles relevant to the keyword(s).Server 130 may use the keyword(s) to search its news corpus, identifyrelevant results, and rank the results using, for example, a techniquesimilar to the ones disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/662,931, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/611,269, and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/611,267. Server 130 may then return the rankedresults to server 120. In an alternative implementation, server 120 mayperform the searching of the news corpus, the identifying of relevantresults, and/or the ranking of the results itself.

In any event, server 120 may obtain ranked results and possibly removefrom these results those news articles that server 120 does not considerrecent (or current). For example, server 120 may remove those newsarticles that were not published (e.g., created, made public, orreceived by server 130) since the last time server 120 searched the newscorpus. Alternatively, server 130 may remove these news articles priorto sending the ranked results to server 120.

Server 120 may then present some or all of the ranked results to theuser as one or more relevant news articles (act 434). For example,server 120 may form a news descriptor for each of the relevant newsarticles. As described above, a news descriptor may include, forexample, the headline of the news article, a link to the news article,and an excerpt from the news article. Alternatively, the news descriptormay contain other information, as also described above. Server 120 maysend the news descriptors associated with the relevant news articles inan e-mail to the user.

At some point, the user may desire to cancel future news alerts (act440). To do this, the user may, for example, select link 820 (FIG. 8) ina news alert that the user has received. Selection of link 820 may causea message to be sent to server 120 confirming cancellation of futurenews alerts. Server 120 may receive the cancellation message and cancelthe news alert for this user on this topic (acts 442 and 444). Forexample, cancellation of the news alert may involve server 120 deletingthe associated entry from the database or marking it appropriately incomputer-readable medium 300 (FIG. 3).

CONCLUSION

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the inventionprovide relevant news alerts to users. The news alert service providedby server 120, for example, may render other news alert servicesprovided by individual news sources redundant because those news sourcesare crawled by server 130. For example, instead of registering withNYTimes.com for a certain topic and then again registering with CNN forthe same topic, an individual may simply register a set of keywords withserver 120 as a persistent news search. Thereafter, server 120 maynotify the individual whenever there are new articles available (thatmatch user's keywords) on any of thousands of news sources scoured byserver 130 (not just New York Times or CNN).

Even if an individual cares about related articles published only in theNew York Times, that individual can simply register an advanced searchfor [<keywords>new york times] with server 120. As a result, server 120will send news alerts concerning only New York Times news articles.

Furthermore, users are in the best position to explain what exactly theywant. This way, they can make their topic as broad or specific as theywant. If the user registered with NYTimes.com, for example, the user isstuck with selecting from a limited set of topics. So, there is no realway of specifying what the user exactly wants. For example, the user maynot want to sign up for alerts on [Microsoft], but would rather like toreceive any news alerts that pertain to [Microsoft security flaw].Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the inventionwould allow just that. In fact, a user could use any or all of theadvanced search features described above to tailor his/her queriesaccordingly.

In addition, the news articles sent out by server 120 are much morerelevant than those sent by individual news sites. Determining therelevancy of an article based on the keywords provided by the user is atricky process. Therefore, existing news alert services either do notallow the users to specify their own keywords or they offer apredetermined set of topics from which to choose. On the other hand,server 120 piggybacks on the news service of server 130 to effectivelyfigure out the relevance of the articles based on various parameters inthe context of user specified keywords.

Moreover, because server 130 crawls thousands of news sources, server120 may notify a user whenever there is a relevant article from any ofthe news sources. For example, this would be a great way of trackingcompany-specific news coverage for all public relations managers.

Moreover, systems and methods consistent with the principles of theinvention make it easy to set up news alerts, cancel the news alerts,and change the frequency of the news alerts. Also, the news alertspermit users to choose, for example, between alerts that are sent asfrequently as possible and alerts that are sent hourly, daily, weekly,etc.

The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the presentinvention provides illustration and description, but is not intended tobe exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. Forexample, while series of acts have been described with regard to FIGS.4A and 4B, the order of the acts may be modified in otherimplementations consistent with the principles of the invention. Also,non-dependent acts may be performed in parallel.

Also, it has been described that server 120 acts in conjunction with aserver (e.g., server 130) that crawls thousands of news sources tocreate a news corpus. In other implementations, server 120 crawls thesenews sources to determine when new articles are present and/or to createits own news corpus.

Moreover, it has been described that server 120 notifies a user of anews alert via e-mail. In other implementations, other forms ofnotification may be used. For example, server 120 may place a telephonecall to the user, send an instant message, page, or fax, send a voicealert to the user's wireless device, and/or provide another form ofnotification.

Also, in another implementation, server 120 may not send a notificationat all. In this case, server 120 may store the news alerts for retrievalby the users. Users may need to establish accounts and use passwords tolog into their accounts. Once they are logged in, they may view all ofthe alerts that have been received thus far. The users may then deletethe alerts or save them for later viewing.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or moreserver devices, from a user, information identifying a particular timeand information identifying one or more keywords for generating analert, the one or more keywords relating to a topic of interest to theuser; identifying, by the one or more server devices and based on theone or more keywords, a first set of documents published by a pluralityof sources and relating to the topic of interest to the user;determining, by the one or more server devices, that one or moredocuments, included in the first set of documents, were published priorto the particular time; removing, by the one or more server devices, thedetermined one or more documents from the first set of documents to forma second set of documents; generating, by the one or more serverdevices, the alert, the alert including information identifying one ormore documents included in the second set of documents; andtransmitting, by the one or more server devices, an instruction to aclient device to present for display the alert to the user, the alertincluding a selectable graphic element for the user to interact with thealert.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving contactinformation associated with the user; and wherein transmitting theinstruction to the client device to present for display includestransmitting the alert to a device associated with the user based on thecontact information.
 3. The method of claim 1, where the informationidentifying the one or more keywords includes at least one of: two ormore words that are to appear together in a same document, a phrase thatincludes the one or more keywords, or one or more words that should notbe included in any document, of the first set of documents.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving timing information thatidentifies a timing at which the user desires to be provided withalerts; and wherein transmitting the instruction to the client device topresent for display the alert to the user is based on the timinginformation.
 5. The method of claim 1, where generating the alertincludes: generating one or more news descriptors associated with thesecond set of documents, and including the one or more news descriptorsin the alert.
 6. The method of claim 5, where generating the one or morenews descriptors includes: generating at least one of: a headline of aparticular document included in the second set of documents, a link tothe particular document, or an excerpt from the particular document. 7.The method of claim 1, where receiving the information identifying theone or more keywords includes: receiving information identifying apreference for current news articles that include at least one of: audiodata, video data, or image data.
 8. A device comprising: one or moreprocessors to: receive, from a user, information identifying aparticular time and information identifying one or more keywords forgenerating an alert, the one or more keywords relating to a topic ofinterest to the user; identify, based on the one or more keywords, afirst set of documents published by a plurality of sources and relatingto the topic of interest to the user; determine that one or moredocuments, included in the first set of documents, were published priorto the particular time; remove the determined one or more documents fromthe first set of documents to form a second set of documents; generatethe alert based on the second set of documents, the alert includinginformation identifying one or more documents included in the second setof documents; and transmit an instruction to a client device to presentfor display the alert to the user, the alert including a selectablegraphic element for the user to interact with the alert.
 9. The deviceof claim 8, where, when receiving the information identifying the one ormore keywords, the one or more processors are to: receive one or moreof: information identifying one or more geographical locationsassociated with the alert, information identifying a location at whichthe one or more keywords are to be located within the first set ofdocuments, information identifying one or more sources from which thefirst set of documents are to originate, or a publication dateassociated with the first set of documents.
 10. The device of claim 8,where, when receiving the information identifying the one or morekeywords, the one or more processors are to: receive informationidentifying at least one of: two or more words that are to all appeartogether in a same document of the first set of documents, a phrase thatincludes the one or more keywords, two or more words, at least one ofwhich is to appear in one document included in the first set ofdocuments, or one or more words that should not appear in any documentincluded in the first set of documents.
 11. The device of claim 8, wherethe one or more processors are configured to: receive contactinformation associated with the user; and transmit the alert to the userbased on the contact information.
 12. The device of claim 8, where theone or more processors are further to: receive timing information thatidentifies a timing for providing alerts to the user; and transmit theinstruction to the client device to present for display the alert to theuser based on the timing information.
 13. The device of claim 8, where,when generating the alert, the one or more processors are to: generateone or more news descriptors associated with the second set ofdocuments, and include the one or more news descriptors in the alert.14. The device of claim 13, where, when generating the one or more newsdescriptors, the one or more processors are to: generate at least oneof: a headline of a particular document in the second set of documents,a link to the particular document, or an excerpt from the particulardocument.
 15. The device of claim 8, where, when receiving theinformation identifying the one or more keywords, the one or moreprocessors are to: receive information identifying a preference forcurrent news articles that include at least one of: audio data, videodata, or image data.
 16. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring instructions, the instructions comprising: one or moreinstructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause theprocessors to: receive, from a user, information identifying aparticular time and information identifying one or more keywords forgenerating an alert, the one or more keywords relating to a topic ofinterest to the user; identify, based on the one or more keywords, afirst set of documents published by a plurality of sources and relatingto the topic of interest to the user; determine that one or moredocuments, included in the first set of documents, were published priorto the particular time; remove the determined one or more documents fromthe first set of documents to form a second set of documents; generatethe alert based on the second set of documents, the alert includinginformation identifying one or more documents included in the second setof documents; and transmit an instruction to a client device to presentfor display the alert to the user, the alert including a selectablegraphic element for the user to interact with the alert.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the one ormore instructions to receive the information identifying the one or morekeywords include: one or more instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the processors to receive one or more of:information identifying one or more geographical locations associatedwith the alert, information identifying a location at which the one ormore keywords are to be located within the first set of documents,information identifying one or more sources from which the first set ofdocuments are to originate, or a publication date associated with thefirst set of documents.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 16, where the one or more instructions to receive theinformation identifying the one or more keywords include: one or moreinstructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causethe processors to: receive information identifying at least one of: twoor more words that are to all appear together in a same document of thefirst set of documents, a phrase that includes the one or more keywords,two or more words, at least one of which is to appear in one documentincluded in the first set of documents, or one or more words that shouldnot appear in any document included in the first set of documents. 19.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the oneor more instructions to receive the information identifying the one ormore keywords include: one or more instructions that, when executed bythe one or more processors, cause the processors to: receive contactinformation associated with the user; and transmit the alert to a deviceassociated with the user based on the contact information.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, where theinstructions further comprise: one or more instructions that, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the processors to: receivetiming information that identifies a timing for providing alerts to theuser; and transmit the instruction to the client device to present fordisplay the alert to the user based on the timing information.